Archive for
June, 2011

I’ve noticed a trend among some fans of this genre lately that kind of bothers me, and I’ve pondered how to state my thoughts on it without sounding like a complete jerk, but any way I’ve cut it, it’s sounded pretty harsh. I suppose a topic like this is one of those things that isn’t pretty no matter what, but the discerning reader will (hopefully) not take too much offense to what I’m trying to say.

There was a statement I read a few weeks ago that a Southern Gospel group owner made and it made a lot of sense: “The only thing as certain as salvation, is change.” Anyone who has been a fan of this music for long definitely knows this to be true. A relatively short period of time ago, a group which will remain unnamed experienced a few lineup changes in short succession that, to many people, rather came as a surprise due to longevity of this particular combination of vocalists. The group brought in new talent to fill the vacated spots, they regrouped and continued to make music, and everyone moved on.

While working on a review for an upcoming project, I went to Youtube, among other resources, to see if I could find out whether or not some songs were previously recorded by another group. I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to an advent of technology like that site, I’m fascinated and usually get a bout of ADD, following a rabbit trail through the “Suggestions” sidebar. Somewhere in all of that, I stumbled across some recent footage taken at an Ernie Haase & Signature Sound concert in Bloomington, Illinois. The videos themselves aren’t as high quality as some out there, but they are still enjoyable, and many of them feature songs I’ve not heard the group do since Ian Owens joined on bass earlier this year. Check them out:

Someday – I haven’t heard the group do this opener to their 2007 Get Away Jordan project in quite a while, and Owens is settling quite well into the bass role for the group. For some reason, his backing harmonies on the first chorus remind of London Parris, which would be a high compliment to pay any bass singer.

Glory To God in the Highest – I really like the change they’ve made to the second verse of this song. The trade-off between Owens and lead singer Devin McGlamery is something I don’t believe I’ve heard utilized in any other rendition of this song, and while I’m sure the bass could carry the verse all the way through as it was originally done with Tim Duncan, the change of vocals make it unique to this lineup.

As some of you may know, I started this blog when I was 14, which puts me in the latter part of middle school starting out. When I started, I certainly didn’t think anyone would read it; it was more of a hobby to be done in the massive amount of free time that I had at that age. Over the years, it sort of transitioned into something more, and for a while, I was able to deftly juggle school career and blogging. It was only in my senior year of high school, this past year, when that became more challenging. When push came to shove, I opted to sacrifice posts in order to maintain good grades, which in turn would help with getting into college.

All of that came to a head a little over a week ago, as I finally walked up and received my high school diploma! It was a day I’ll never forget. I was pleasantly surprised with being given a “Congratulations” thread on the Absolutely Gospel forums where so many people posted such kind words and congratulations, as well as fellow blogger Daniel Mount giving a post to the occasion where others did the same. It made a special time in my life even more so!

The whirlwind didn’t settle down there, for this past weekend brought orientation at my college, Radford University. With this one-and-a-half day event, I got to get acquainted with the many facets of the university and register for classes for the fall semester. Now, I can finally relax and re-energize this summer. As you can see, I’ve barely had time to think, much less sit down and blog!

So, what’s next for Swain’s Musings? Well, certainly not the end, at least not for a good long while! I suppose one thing I’ve learned from everything is that time management is key, and while my posts may not be as frequent as they once where, I will do my dead-level best to put something of substance up as often as I can for those who may read this little corner of the web.

One thing that definitely needs taking care of is project reviews. I’ve gotten immensely behind on that, as I still have a pile of projects from NQC still pending reviews. I’ve decided that the best way to tackle that is this: if it has already been reviewed to death by the various other bloggers and writers, I probably won’t say anything different than has been said, and therefore will refrain from reviewing. However, there are just as many that are on the other end of the spectrum, and I will hopefully get to do those reviews soon. There are also plenty of freshly released projects that I hope to cover as well.

All of that to say this: to those who may read, thank you for sticking around thus far, and I hope to churn out new content that will keep you coming back in the coming months (and hopefully years!).

Project Review Policy

To comply with FTC guidelines, we at Swain's Musings state that, unless otherwise mentioned, the projects that this blog reviews were given to the reviewer(s) free of charge. This does not have any bearing on the final rating and is not even taken into consideration when reviewing the project. Due to recent guideline changes, this statement is necessary, because these guidelines assume that a more favorable review is given when the product is received for free.

Contact me at aaron@swainsmusings.com for information on how to get your project to me for review.